In 1 Kings 8 we experienced the excitement at the dedication of the temple, including a visible manifestation of God’s presence and marveled at Solomon’s long prayer. Then we have something very significant:

After Solomon had completed building The Temple of GOD and his own palace, all the projects he had set his heart on doing, GOD appeared to Solomon again, just as he had appeared to him at Gibeon. (1 Kings 9.1, 2, MSG)

God “appeared to Solomon again…” Keep that in mind – we’ll revisit it in a few days.

When God appeared, he gave a promise and a warning:

I’ve listened to and received all your prayers, your ever-so-passionate prayers. I’ve sanctified this Temple that you have built: My Name is stamped on it forever; my eyes are on it and my heart in it always. As for you, if you live in my presence as your father David lived, pure in heart and action, living the life I’ve set out for you, attentively obedient to my guidance and judgments, then I’ll back your kingly rule over Israel, make it a sure thing on a solid foundation. The same guarantee I gave David your father I’m giving you: “You can count on always having a descendant on Israel’s throne.“

But if you or your sons betray me, ignoring my guidance and judgments, taking up with alien gods by serving and worshiping them, then the guarantee is off: I’ll wipe Israel right off the map and repudiate this Temple I’ve just sanctified to honor my Name. And Israel will become nothing but a bad joke among the peoples of the world. And this Temple, splendid as it now is, will become an object of contempt; visitors will shake their heads, saying, “Whatever happened here? What’s the story behind these ruins?” Then they’ll be told, “The people who used to live here betrayed their GOD, the very God who rescued their ancestors from Egypt; they took up with alien gods, worshiping and serving them. That’s what’s behind this GOD-visited devastation.” (1 Kings 9.3 – 9, MSG)

And it happened. Solomon’s temple was destroyed in the Babylonian captivity (we’ll get there in this year’s readings in 2 Kings 25 and 2 Chronicles 36). They rebuilt it in Ezra’s day with prodding from the prophet Haggai:

Thus says the LORD of hosts: Consider your ways. Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, that I may take pleasure in it and that I may be glorified, says the LORD. (Haggai 1.7, 8, ESV)

That Temple was destroyed also (not recorded in the Old Testament). The Temple in Jesus’ day was built by Herod – the third temple – and the Romans took that out in 70 A.D. There is no temple on the Temple Mount today – just a mosque, the Dome of the Rock.

There are no permanent civilizations including ours. It’s possible there will come a time when people will visit what used to be the United States and say, “What’s the story behind these ruins?” And the answer might be, “The people who used to live here betrayed their God…”

All the officers of the priests and the people likewise were exceedingly unfaithful, following all the abominations of the nations. And they polluted the house of the LORD that he had made holy in Jerusalem. The LORD, the God of their fathers, sent persistently to them by his messengers, because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place. But they kept mocking the messengers of God, despising his words and scoffing at his prophets, until the wrath of the LORD rose against his people, until there was no remedy. (2 Chronicles 36.14 – 16, ESV)